DETROIT – Muslims from different cities across the United States are planning a run for three miles in Metro Detroit and other cities on Saturday, June 25, while fasting the holy month of Ramadan, to raise funds for children’s cancer charity.
“There’s something spiritual when you’re doing something for a good case that gets you through it,” Amna Kamal, a communications manager from Canton Township, told Detroit News on Friday, June 24.
“You’re surrounded with people who have the same goals as you, the same giving mentality. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.”
The event, Fasting 5K, will include walk and run just over three miles along the Interstate 275 Metro Trail.
Joining the run while abstaining from food and water, Kamal will survive on “sheer willpower” to benefit The Children’s Center in Detroit.
Kamal is not alone.
The chance to help others is driving Kamal and about 60 others to join in the Metro Detroit version of the Fasting 5K, which takes off from the Muslim Community of Western Suburbs in Canton Township.
The event coincides with similar ones across North America on Saturday, including in Chicago, New York and Toronto, according to the group’s website.
In Michigan, participants have each pledged to raise at least $250, said Dr. Jabeen Siddiqui Hamzavi, one of the organizers.
The idea spread after Orlando shooting, in which Omar Mateen fatally shot 49 people and wounded 53.
“I feel like the good things we do as a community — it’s important for people to see that and to see that that’s who we really are,” Kamal said.
“Charitable things like this are part of the tenets of our faith. That is more who we are than anything else.”
A portion of the proceeds goes to a Syrian American Medical Services initiative to aid refugees in Jordan, coordinators said.
Kamal and her cohorts are raising funds for the Children’s Center, which works to address mental, physical and behavioral health, abuse and poverty issues in the area.
The Fasting 5K donations are slated to boost its Crisis Care Center, “an immediate walk-in alternative to the hospital emergency room for non-medically related crisis affecting the mental health of children between 4-17 years old,” according to the website.
The chance to help out has attracted non-Muslims to join the 5K, as well, Hamzavi said. “It’s a universal cause.”